What is ‘The Past Presents’?
What is the Past Presents? ~ A Love Letter to the Predecessor
Written by Tommy Clift
Nothing arises independently. Our dearest people, experiences, and feelings are all miraculous arrivals—bound by past lives having loved and suffered, by choice and circumstance, by molecular oblivions having come awake.
Gluing it all together is gratitude, for everything that came before—and that it even happened at all.
The Past Presents is a small way to acknowledge what came before Worldviews—all of the effort and, most importantly, the people who helped shape our work and our ability to support creatives for years to come. As a kind of love letter from the editor, it’s an acknowledgement of the denver underground:
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Imminently before the pandemic, I had joined Mona de Amor [link to Mona page] in launching an artist publication. Born, raised, and deeply invested in Denver, Mona already had FreeMusicForFreePeople alive and well, serving the city’s artistic scenes. Mona is a communal powerhouse—quick to nurture and foster opportunity for those around them. Having interviewed them a few years prior for a profile piece at my university paper, they kept with their character—reaching out to me with an inclination to work together.
But with spectacular timing, I came on board at the very beginning of 2020. Within only a few months of rap sessions—and what turned into a few local band profiles—everything came to a chaotic and uneven halt. We sat in limbo with the world for several weeks, unsure if and when the work would continue—and what that work looked like when people were desperate for healthcare and medicine, not eager for art (of course, that wasn’t the whole picture).
Then George Floyd was murdered.
For some, it was yet another boiling point of generational abuse, while for others, it was a long-overdue wake-up call. The blatant visibility and cruelty of George’s murder broke down privileged veils that many people lived behind—the combination resulting in some of the country’s largest protests in history.
Across these vastly varied relationships to the injustice, there was a common eruption from isolation into this combustive togetherness—into images I will never forget protesting outside Denver’s Capitol.
Amidst violence, there was solidarity—but a solidarity that, at times, struck me (and others) as loud, yet unfocused and self-referential. It performed like allyship, while acting out in a pent-up rage—perhaps from being cooped up in quarantine or from a well-intentioned urgency that outpaced understanding. But it was deeply protected by whiteness, rather than supporting Black protest leaders—the ones who faced disproportionate backlash for any escalations.
That missing piece in the mayhem: listening. The importance of genuinely reflecting: Do I understand? Across intersectional experiences are vast and nuanced assumptions. Course correcting them happens in conversation, in listening.
“It inspired such reflection on what we are doing with our microphone,” Mona said to me thinking back on that summer.
This became the denver underground—an artist advocacy publication, formed by FreeMusicForFreePeople in 2020.
We released the first physical magazine, “Black Artists Matter,” and threw a release party outside Youth On Record, a local nonprofit for young creatives. Featured artists gathered to perform, share their thoughts, and be in community during a divisive and isolating time.
It was a clear affirmation that while we indeed needed our nurses and doctors, our world also desperately craved creation and community coming out of that time.
In the following years, we grew our approach—gathering more grant funding and support, paying the artists we featured—culminating into our second and third editions, “Otherhood: Queer Conversations,” and “Latinx: de aquí y de allá.” Every interview, featuring only the artists’ words, distilled in deep conversation, was a window into both how they viewed the world and how it feels to be viewed in the world.
Worldviews naturally emerges from this approach.
While we needed to support our communities during the despondence and dissonance of the pandemic, we now want to widen that lens—seeking out the many local creative communities that keep curiosity, expression, and people at the center of their lives.
We open these windows at a critical time when new technology destabilizes notions of experience, consciousness, and feeling. But looking forward, we are carried by what came before. There is no Worldviews without the denver underground and all the people who made the magazines and events so intimate—so creatively contagious. I write this to express my most sincere gratitude.
We owe it to these wonderful people.
Read a few of their stories || or || Grab a physical copy of the magazines ADD LINKS
Thank you to all the artists who were a part of these projects:
Edition I – Black Artists Matter
ArtsyQ // @artsyQ2
Bianca Mikahn // @biancamikahn
Bushenga AaronAli // @bushengaaaronali
Ivian // @ivian.lewis
Jude Ernest // @j.eus
Kayla Marque // @iamkaylamarque
Kerrie Joy // @kerriejoy
Khalil Simon //@kingkhalilmusic
Leo Donatello // @thesenortrash
Mama JAH // @mamajah333
Marco Mills // @thedirtiestdan
Ramakhandra // @ramakhandra
Sherman // @scherm_man
SPEAKS // @goodlooksvol.1
Stephen Brackett // @brerness
Edition II – Otherhood: Queer Conversations
CL Fondal // @cl_fondal
Colter Armstrong // @coltgrows
Joseph Lamar // @thejosephlamar
Korina Meister // @sweetheartpoweder
L.A. Zwicky // @lazwicky & @scorpio.palace
LeeLee // @twirlingtechgoddess
Mahogany // @mahoganyfashaw
Melissa Ivey // @melissaivey_music
N3PTUNE // @n3ptunemusic
Thre Greiner // @stillsbythem
Valentino Valentine // @valentinovalentin
Veneizzz // @veneizzz
Xadie James // @xadiejames & @mxmeek
Edition III – Latinx: de aquí allá
Arlette Lucero // @luceros_luz
Cl0udy // @cl0udy.v
Diego Florez-Arroyo // @leondelasflorez
Ero808 // @ero.808
GuerillaGarden // @guerillagarden
Julio Alejandro // @julioaalejandro
Kimberly Ming // @kimberly.ming
Lala Queen // @lalathedragqueen
Mariella Saavedra Carquin // mari.arte.flor
Molina Speaks // @molinaspeaks
Semilla Besada // @semillabesada
Shiloh Zetiger // @shilohzetiger
Yuzo Nieto // @pinkhawks
